“Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it?”

But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure? On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain.

We all know yoga postures affect our body, but did you ever think about the way they affect your mind, feelings, and psyche?

I was thinking about this the other day as I attended a random vinyasa-style class. The teacher was making up the postures as she went, stringing postures together spontaneously as the class progressed. After the class I felt agitated. I felt exhausted. I felt irritable! Why?

When I was in a 28-day Sivananda Yoga Teacher’s Training Course in New York, we learned about the postures in a way I never thought about before. The postures aren’t mere stretches and strengtheners for our muscles. They affect a much larger part of us, and they affect our insides in a big way–body and mind.

1.Seated Forward Bend

Let me back up for a paragraph or two. Do you know about Swami Sivananda? He is a world-renowned guru, and the inspiration behind all the Sivananda Yoga centers and ashrams in the world. Before he became a swami (a monk in the Hindu tradition), he was a highly revered medical doctor for decades. He healed his patients of countless ailments.

Head to Bend

The interesting thing is that he often prescribed his patients yoga postures, or ‘asanas’ to help them heal. This isn’t something we see in our world today, at least not in the West. Scientific studies have only begun to tap into the seemingly magical healing powers of the asanas, but it’s still not a mainstream form of healing.

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